Engines: 80 years of Mercury - Happy Birthday
There is hardly a water sports enthusiast who is not familiar with the motor specialists from Fond du Lac in the US state of Wisconsin. An anniversary celebration took place on 22 January 2019 at boot in Düsseldorf, on the very day that Elmer Carl Kiekhaefer bought the bankrupt manufacturer of Thor outboards in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, in 1939.
However, the young engineer had no plans to continue manufacturing engines, but rather to produce magnetic separators for the local dairy industry.
But Kickhaefer needed money and the bankruptcy estate included 300 defective outboards, which were repaired after improvements - in particular with a forged crankshaft and a new carburettor - and sold to the mail order company Montgomery Ward under the new name "Sea King".
Now the customers were satisfied and the orders continued. The Kiekhaefer Corporation was born and now sold the further improved boat drives under the name "Mercury" - a well-known car brand in the USA at the time, but one that had nothing to do with boat engines. After the New York Boat Show in 1940, the young entrepreneur, now trading as Kiekhaefer Mercury, is said to have already received 16,000 orders.
After the war years with chainsaws and drone engines, the company benefited greatly from the booming water sports in the late 1940s and 1950s.
The "Lightning" presented in 1947, also known as the "Super 10", probably had more than the 10 horsepower on paper and was very popular. It was a similar story with the first four-cylinder in-line engine presented in 1949, which was initially marketed as the "Thunderbolt". In a sporty "H" version presented soon afterwards, the engine offered as "25+" is said to have actually developed around 40 hp.
It is therefore no wonder that the Mercury engines were well received by the public and achieved enormous sales success. This engine was the basis for the Mark 40, 50 and 55 models, which were very popular in the 1950s. In 1957, the remote and largely unknown Lake Conlin in Florida - mysteriously named Lake X by the team - became Mercury's secret test centre.
As early as 1961, the current parent company Brunswick Corporation, a conglomerate known at the time for its bowling products in particular, took over the company.
The wave of success continued with the immediate introduction of the MerCruiser inboards with Z-drives, some of which achieved a global market share of over 80 per cent in their segment, and with numerous new outboard models over the following decades.
In 1969, Kiekhaefer left the company and the name was changed to Mercury Marine. Innovative products were always the hallmark of the manufacturer, and in 1966 the first 6-cylinder outboards with electronic ignition were available. More recent products include the Verado models with superchargers, which were largely replaced only last year by the new, very light and powerful V6 and V8 models.
Today, the long-established boat propulsion company employs 7,000 people worldwide. Further, as yet unspecified events are planned for the 2019 season to celebrate the company's 80th anniversary
